Recipes

Recipe: Sweet zucchini and saffron butterfly cakes

Recipe: Sweet zucchini and saffron butterfly cakes

Recipe: Sweet zucchini and saffron butterfly cakes Author: Style At Home

Recipes

Recipe: Sweet zucchini and saffron butterfly cakes

When I was a child, my mom would make butterfly cakes, and I still love them! The addition of grated zucchini and saffron gives a lovely soft edge to this great cake recipe idea. Good old-fashioned buttercream (now more commonly known as vanilla frosting) is a lovely way to finish them.

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Ingredients
  • 1 good pinch saffron threads or powder
  • 2 tablespoons boiling water
  • 2 large eggs, at room temperature
  • Generous ¾ cup (6½ oz) superfine sugar
  • 1-½ cups (7 oz) Gluten-Free Flour Mix A
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder (check to be sure it is a gluten-free variety)
  • ½ teaspoon xanthan gum
  • 1 teaspoon glycerin
  • 2 medium zucchini, grated and thoroughly squeezed to extract the moisture
  • 1 cup (8 oz) unsalted butter, softened
  • ⅔ cup (2-½ oz) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
  • Sifted confectioners’ sugar, to dust

Directions
1  Preheat the oven to 350˚F (180˚C). Place 12 paper muffin liners in a muffin pan.

2  Place the saffron threads or powder in a mug, add the boiling water, and leave to infuse and cool.

3  Next, place the eggs and sugar into a stand mixer, and beat on high speed for 5 minutes, or until thick and creamy.

4  Place the flour, baking powder, and xanthan gum together in another bowl, and mix well.

5  Once the egg and sugar are very thick, add the saffron water, glycerin, flour mix, and zucchini. Fold together well, then spoon into the muffin liners.

6  Bake for 15–20 minutes, until slightly brown and well risen. Remove, and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

7  To make the buttercream, beat the butter and confectioners’ sugar together in a medium bowl. Once the cakes are cold, cut out a small, fairly deep circle of cake from the top of each muffin with a sharp knife, then cut each circle in half. Spoon a little frosting into the hole in the cake, then invert the two half circles of cake, and stick onto the frosting to simulate butterfly wings.

8  Dust with confectioners’ sugar, and serve.

Note: For a splash more color try adding a little infused saffron (1 small pinch of saffron threads or powder infused in 2 teaspoons boiling water) to the buttercream.

To store: Store, unfrosted, in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

To freeze: Once cooled, freeze the unfrosted cakes in a plastic bag or airtight container.

Makes 12 cakes.




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Excerpted from Gluten-Free Baking by Phil Vickery Copyright © 2011 by Phil Vickery. P hotography by Tara Fisher . Excerpted by permission of Firefly Books. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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Recipe: Sweet zucchini and saffron butterfly cakes